TEHRAN, Dec. 8 (Mehr News Agency) - Iran has strongly denounced the trial of its citizen Amir Hussein Ardabili in the United States, calling his trial a politically motivated move which shows U.S. contempt for international law.

Denver's judicial body plans to put Ardabili on trial on December 12 for alleged weapon smuggling.

Foreign Minister Manouchehr Mottaki raised Iran's strong objection to such unconventional proceedings and called for the immediate and unconditional release of the citizen.

"First we witnessed that Ardabili was abducted by American security forces... and then transferred to America. For over one year we were uninformed about his fate. Now we are faced with a clandestine legal procedure on his case," he said.

Mottaki said confessions by Ardabili revealed his "inappropriate mental condition".

No well-documented evidence is cited to support claims raised at the court, he added.

"We regard deceiving and kidnapping of Iranian citizens as an intentional and obvious breach of international law and we demand immediate release of our citizens to end their families' growing concern," he stated.

Before his trial the Foreign Ministry had demanded an official report on the Ardabili case, but Iran's inquiry went unanswered, he added.

Ardabili was arrested in October 2007 in Georgia for alleged smuggling of weapons to Iran and handed over to the U.S. secretly in January 2008.

From then on, it is the first time that American judicial officials have confirmed his presence in the U.S.

The entire investigations and trial have been carried out off-the record in stark contrast to the international conventions, the top Iranian diplomat noted.

... Payvand News - 12/09/09 ... --